2022 NBA Awards Watch: The official halfway-point ballot

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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 03: Draymond Green #23 reacts after Jordan Poole #3 of the Golden State Warriors dunks the ball on Omer Yurtseven #77 of the Miami Heat in the second half at Chase Center on January 03, 2022 in San Francisco, California, 2022 NBA Awards Watch: The official halfway-point ballot. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

2022 NBA Awards Watch: Defensive Player of the Half-Year – Draymond Green

Honorable Mentions: Rudy Gobert, Giannis Antetokounmpo

This is Draymond Green’s award to lose. He is the defensive anchor on the best defensive unit in the league. He is like a general on the court and can guard multiple positions.

As the standard for defensive forwards in this generation (not named Kawhi Leonard), Green has bounced back as much as the Golden State Warriors have as a unit and are back to being in the midst of all of the award races.

Green is the type of player that advanced stats will be created for in the future just to fully explain just how dominant he was, because the current statistical parlance is not fit to fully communicate it.

Rudy Gobert is still the most dominant anchor in the paint overall and has been amazing statistically. He is first in defensive rebounds (11.5), first in overall rebounds (15.1), and second in blocks (2.3). As the Utah Jazz storm through another dominant regular season, Gobert will not be going anywhere.

Another former Defensive Player of the Year rounds out the ballot. No matter who is in and out of the lineup, Giannis Antetokounmpo dominates on both ends of the floor.

The Milwaukee Bucks are seventh in defensive rating but would be much worse, given the absences they have dealt with, if not for Antetokounmpo.